Malzahn, who led Arkansas State to the Sun Belt title in his first season with the Red Wolves, was Auburn’s offensive coordinator for three seasons, including the 2010 BCS national championship-winning season.

He replaces Gene Chizik, who was fired Nov. 25 after Auburn completed a 3-9 season and went 0-8 in SEC games. One of Chizik’s first moves after being hired to replace Tommy Tuberville in December 2008 was to hire Malzahn, whose offenses at Tulsa and Arkansas lit up scoreboards.

"I'm just tickled to death," Malzahn said in a Tuesday night press conference. "It's a true honor for me to be the head coach of the Auburn Tigers. I spent three years here and I can honestly say it's the best three years of my life. I feel connected forever."

Malzahn will still coach the Red Wolves in the GoDaddy.com bowl against Kent State.

"Gus Malzahn is a proven winner," athletic director Jay Jacobs said. "He is without question one of the brightest minds in college football and he has won everywhere he has been. Coach Malzahn knows what it takes to build a championship program in the Southeastern Conference. He knows our state and region and he understands what it will take to turn our program around. Coach Malzahn will also be an outstanding ambassador for Auburn University, and that was important to the committee."

This season, Arkansas State was 17th nationally in total offense with 481.8 yards per game. Auburn was 115th with 305.0 yards under first-year offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler.

In his three seasons at Auburn, the Tigers averaged 431.7 yards (16th in the country) in total offense in 2009, improved to 499.2 the following season when they won the national title, and 337.8 in 2011 when they tried to slow the pace because of the defense’s struggles.

QB Cam Newton won the Heisman Trophy in 2010 under Malzahn's tutelage.

One of the first things Malzahn will have to do is find a quarterback. Freshman Jonathan Wallace emerged as the starting quarterback late in the season and performed well. Sophomore Kiehl Frazier, who Malzahn recruited for years, began the season as the starter but struggled in Loeffler's scheme. Clint Moseley took over but struggled with injuries before giving way to Wallace.

"I just told (the team) our expectations are to win championships," Malzahn said. "Whatever happened last year happened last year. It's a new day. We're going to put a good brand of football on the field and we're going to have fun doing it."

Also, Auburn has a commitment from Jeremy Johnson, a 6-foot-6 quarterback from Carver High School in Montgomery, Ala., who earlier this week was moved into the Rivals.com top 100 at No. 94.

Malzahn became a commodity as high school coach at Shiloh Christian and Springdale high schools in Arkansas. He was hired in late 2005 by Arkansas coach Houston Nutt to be the offensive coordinator for the Razorbacks. In his only season there, with running backs Darren McFadden and Felix Jones, Arkansas had the fourth-best rushing offense in the nation, but struggled throwing the ball effectively. Nutt and Malzahn reportedly had issues and that led to Malzahn leaving for Tulsa.

He spent two seasons running the offense at Tulsa—the Golden Hurricane led the nation in total offense both seasons—before heading to Auburn.